The Roots of Iran’s Nuclear Program w/ Mark Dubowitz

Conversations With Coleman

The Free Press

Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2025

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has long focused on Iran’s nuclear ambitions and advised multiple U.S. administrations on policy toward Iran. I invited him on Conversations with Coleman to explain the Iran nuclear issue at a deep level. We discussed the science of uranium enrichment, the differing Obama, Trump, and Biden policies on containment, and the history of Iran’s nuclear ambitions from the 1979 Revolution to today. Mark laid out the stakes of preventing a nuclear-armed Iran—not just for the United States, but for global stability—and the consequences of getting it wrong. Mark emphasized how the calculation on confronting Iran has changed for Israel since October 7, 2023. While the U.S. has followed a doctrine of de-escalating to de-escalate—favoring diplomacy, economic incentives, and restraint—Israel now believes it must escalate to de-escalate. This conversation was recorded before Israel launched its attack on Iran, striking nuclear facilities, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military bases, missile launchers, and commanders’ residences. It’s now more important than ever to understand the context for the articles and commentary that you’re going to see over the next weeks and months. Subscribe to The Free Press for all of our ongoing reporting about the conflict at TheFP.com. Go to ⁠groundnews.com/coleman⁠ to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to another episode of Conversations with Coleman. My guest today is Mark Dubowitz.
0:05.8	Mark is a Canadian-American attorney, former venture capitalist, and current CEO of the Foundation
0:11.5	for Defense of Democracies, a public policy think tank. His focus for many years has been Iran,
0:17.7	in particular Iran's nuclear ambitions. He was arguably the leading critic outside of the
0:23.2	Trump administration of the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran. He's testified before Congress over 20
0:29.6	times and spearheaded influential research and sanctions initiatives through his think tank.
0:35.1	I wanted this episode to be a one-stop shop for anyone who wants to
0:39.1	understand the Iran nuclear issue at a deep level. So we start the story way back in 1979,
0:45.5	when the Islamic regime that currently rules first took power. And then we trace the regime's
0:50.5	nuclear ambitions through the 80s, 90s, and 2000s all the way up to Obama's nuclear
0:55.7	deal in 2015. Then we cover Trump's departure from that deal, and Biden's attempt to revive parts of it.
1:02.7	We also go over the basic science of uranium enrichment. For instance, what does it mean for
1:07.6	uranium to be 5% enriched as opposed to 60% and so on?
1:12.5	Finally, we address the question of what's at stake.
1:15.4	Why does it matter whether Iran gets nuclear weapons, and what actions are justified to stop this from happening?
1:22.1	Keep in mind that this episode was recorded before Israel struck deep at the heart of Iran's nuclear program just a few days
1:28.7	ago. So while this podcast episode doesn't address the headlines of the past few days,
1:33.9	it will, I hope, give you a much deeper level of context for the articles and commentary that you're
1:39.5	going to be seeing over the next weeks and months. So without further ado, Mark Dubowitz.
1:52.8	Hi, this is Ava from Vanta.
1:55.8	In today's digital world, compliance regulations are changing constantly,
2:00.2	and earning customer trust has never mattered more.
	...

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